AdventDestiny Design Works

[Lockon]

Ooooh, I though Behemoth was like a giant or something.

Maybe you could have the head facing forward and have the coils go around it for Thunder. Might make it fit better.

 

[AdventDestiny-Tau]

I'm certainly considering it, it's going to be asymmetrical one way or another, however I do it. Thanks for the tip!

 

[AdventDestiny-Tau]

A long time ago, in the early days of AdventDestiny development, I had a clear idea of the rather unusual choice for the female lead character, which has not changed.

This is Jeanne d'Arc, AKA Joan of Arc :sly: I know, a real life saint born almost 600 years ago in medieval France? What the Hell does she have to do with an American Tokusatsu tribute series?! Jeanne was an extraordinary woman in real life, whether or not you were a devout Catholic or not. She had such a character, such a unique personality, considering she was an illiterate teenager who believed she was chosen by God to save her nation from English occupation.

I had considered Joan of Arc as a character even before AdventDestiny, back when the original idea was going to be a fan-fic about Godzilla, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Battle Angel Alita [I love Alita, Gally in her native Japan, and she and Joan of Arc are eerily similar :hmm:] Joan was going to be a supporting character from an expanded portion of the story, but when I did some research on her, I became fascinated by her, not in a romantic sense... something more than that, which honestly I have no way to accurately describe how I feel about her.

When I decided to shift my fan-fic into an original series, one of the first things I did was immediately promote Joan as the leading female character of the story. Next, I had to decide what I wanted her to look like. I wanted something that hadn't been done before with Joan, something that frankly was rare in any medium... save for Japan, of course :nipponlove: Alita was a big influence on my decision to make Joan look extraordinary, by giving her a synthetic; a little preview for her origins.

When Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, ultimately what was left was her heart, which no matter how many times it was thrown back into the fire, it would always come out whole and intact [not inconceivable, the heart is a hardy mass of muscle, but I'm going off topic!]. What was not known was that Joan had come in contact with an ancient power, an energy that had merged with her essence, though not completely. I could not save her, not all of her anyway, so it preserved what it could. Joan's ashes and heart were thrown into the Seine River [a common practice, the church trying to make sure to dispose of any potentially heretical relics]. There the heart sank to the bottom of the river, over time building a 'cocoon', beginning the long process of recreating her body. This process takes centuries, 600 years to be exact, down to the day.

When Joan reawakens, she emerges into a world completely different from the one she knew, and is flung into a conflict that could decide the very fate of all life on Earth, perhaps even the fate of our entire galaxy!

BONUS: Some doodles of her Archetype form helmet, and a retooled version of her emblem!

 

[AdventDestiny-Tau]

This is a conceptual design for a new Archetype character, who right now I'm using the name of Shivan [based off the name of the Hindu god Shiva, I'll explain in a moment], and the improved design for the Wind element emblem.

It's been a long time since I've done any real conceptualizing for the other 16 Archetypes, besides Advent and Destiny, and I was pleasantly surprised of the outcome I got when I started sketching this character. For a long time, I always envisioned the Wind Archetype being themed off of a bird, but since three [actually four now] other Archetypes have bird-like animal themes, I really wanted to go outside of the box for the element of Wind.

So I recycled another creature, the Tiger [which was originally going to be the Metal element], which fit perfectly, since in Asian mythology the Tiger is commonly associated with the element of wind, a fact I only learned after I made the change! When I started thinking about which custom accessory I wanted to have on Shivan that was unique to his armor, I had in mind a kind of short cloak, something that could visually represent his elemental abilities, and what better to represent wind, then a piece of cloth that would flutter as the wind kicks up?

In another case of massive coincidence, after I had settled on the tattered cloak feature, when I looked up the mythical role of the Tiger in an old mythological creature book I have, I discovered that Shiva was often portrayed wearing a tiger skin! Which is what lead to me naming him after Shiva, for now at least.

 

[AdventDestiny-Tau]

An unexpected addition to the AdventDestiny universe, this is the first of a new generation of Tokusatsu themed villains, the Cybeasts! This particular one is obviously based off a squid, and is equipped with sharp talons, gnashing beak, tentacles that can fire energy beams, and the ability to release a toxic ink cloud, both in the air or in the water.

Specifically inspired by the monsters of most Kamen Rider series [known as Kaijin, not to be confused with Kaiju!], the Cybeasts are former humans who have been genetically spliced with various animal species, augmented by nanomachine based cybernetics to become animalistic shapeshifters. Their role in the story is that they are the experiments of a rogue biotechnologies research organization, who are secretly trying to create the perfect transformed human to begin a new world era.

Though not by any means the main antagonists of the story, the Cybeasts provide a wide diversity of options for throw away, monsters of the week, and are a fine tribute to the original source of inspiration for AdventDestiny as a whole!

 

[AdventDestiny-Tau]

Here's a new batch of AdventDestiny designs! [forgot to post them last week]


Hate how off kilter this turned out, but I love the design itself, happy to have finally made a design for the Water emblem that I actually like! May stick to using the computer when design emblems, that way I can just draw one side, than flip a copy around and paste them together!


A rough concept design for the Thunder elemental Archetype, Velocies [name may change in the future]. I imagine him as being the speedster of the Archetypes, like the Flash. A major change in his design theme is the elemental creature, which was originally going to be Quetzalcoatl, but I decided to change into the Thunderbird... fun fact, in Native American folklore, the Thunderbird was sometimes portrayed as having two heads!

Also present is a conceptual design for a holographic 'dial' that appears in the palm of the Archetype's hand, which they used to access their powers, both universal and unique to each individual. The general design and the glyphs are based off of the Chinese Yin Yang and Bagua principle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagua


A more recent concept design for the central female protagonist of AdventDestiny, Jeanne 'Joan' d'Arc, AKA Archetype Destiny! As the Archetype of light, her powers are very divine in nature, and center on bright energy attacks. I admit, I'm not sure I'm happy with the 'skirt', which was actually meant to emulate the Tussel plates found on Medieval suits of armor.


Two more Archetypes, Death Archetype Eclipse and Earth Archetype Fortis! Eclipse is something of a femme fatale, Jeanne's polar opposite in every way, and her powers specialize in draining the life force from her enemies. Though not visible here, her unique armor feature is a long, scorpion stinger pigtail, which can arc over her head to deliver a lethal sting, causing the victim to literally waste away into nothing more than dust and bones.

Fortis is more along the heroic side of things, a massive but kind hearted man [note that these two designs are NOT to scale!], who avoids using his powers unless left no other choice. Considering he's the most heavily armored of the Archetypes, and close to one of the strongest, it's probably a good thing he has an even temper... but if you do piss him off, expect the very ground beneath your feet to become your enemy, as it either rises up as jagged spikes, or drops away into a fiery abyss!


And finally, two more designs for a couple of classic Tokusatsu inspired Kaijin monsters, the Spider and Bat Cybeasts! These two are especially unique, as they are both tributes to the Kamen Rider series, as both the bat and spider design motif frequently appears throughout the various series [including the current series Kamen Rider Drive!]. Though the Cybeasts aren't going to be the first Kaijin adversaries encountered, when the Cybeasts make their entrance, these two will be leading the way!

 

[AdventDestiny-Tau]

An experiment with a gimmick I wanted to use in AdventDestiny; I wanted to have the Archetypes, once they've finished most of their "Henshin" sequence, the transformation completes when several plates on the helmet flip open, exposing the visor as it flashes to life!

So this is Advent's visor design, so I needed to design five moving plates that mostly cover the pentagram inspired visor, while also trying to preserve most of the original helmet design. While I'm pretty happy with the two upper plates, I'm not so sure on the two lower plates along the chin...

I definitely plan on Destiny having a similar folding helmet plates, and if I can I'm also going to use this for all the Archetypes [if not, then I'll just use it for Advent and Destiny, since they're the main protagonists, so they could get away with having something unique that the other Archetypes don't have].


Slight remodel of Advent's design. A problem I've apparently been doing is bulking his armor up; my intention was to keep the Archetypes very Kamen Rider like in design, and most, if not all, Kamen Riders are quite slim, no big pectorals or bulging muscles like in superhero comics!

 

[AdventDestiny-Tau]

This doesn't look much like the other Archetype designs, and for good reason, because this is not an Archetype! HyperKnight is another Tokusatsu inspired character, taking his cue more from Ultraman and Bio-Boosted Armor Guyver.

Power wise, HyperKnight is one of the strongest characters in the AdventDestiny universe, but his own cautious and sympathetic nature prevents him from using his full power... and yet he has no choice but to fight, because if he doesn't, the merciless intelligence contained within the armor will take over. He fights, for fear of the far greater damage that the unrestrained power within him could do, if not kept in check.

You can expect to see HyperKnight in his own spin-off series, which currently has no title, but is set in the same universe as the AdventDestiny storyline, opening the window to future crossovers between series!

 

[AdventDestiny-Tau]

So after a very, very long absence, here's a new conceptual design for one of the major Archetype characters in AdventDestiny. This represents a near final design, honestly I'm happy with the level of detail in the design, though I do want to alter the lower arm and leg plates, so that they share the sharp angular quality of the torso armor. I also hope to incorporate various sigils like the ones on the sword.

 

[AdventDestiny-Tau]

And while I'm at it, here's a very brief teaser for AdventDestiny; this is more an exploratory piece, no lead up or explanation, and is more a preview of the style of writing for the series. Feel free to critique and analyze it.

AdventDestiny
"Teaser"
12/35/15 By Geoffrey J. Smith

Advent reeled back, metallic claws scraping along the road as he slid back over a dozen feet. He braced himself as his assailant charged forward, crashing into Advent with the force of a freight train. Advent dug his heels in, shattering pavement as he and the metallic beast attacking him ground to a halt. They grappled, Advent holding back the Cybeast's two foot long scimitar talons, while it leaned forward, snapping its metallic jaws in Advent's face.

Advent arched back his head, then slammed it into the Cybeast's face, the impact cracking the Cybeast's head plating. As it stumbled back from the impact, Advent pressed the attack, launching several rapid succession punches into the already damaged Cybeast's head, further fracturing it and even dislocating the jaw. The Cybeast lashed out with its claws, forcing Advent back as it retracted its head turtle-like into its armored torso.

As it crouched into a defensive posture, armored plates along the Cybeast's hunched back retracted, revealing six micro-missile ports, each erupting with fire as they launched a volley of rockets into the air. Advent leapt back as the rockets came crashing down around him, engulfing him in a series of fiery explosions. As the smoke cleared, Advent rose up from the ground, reaching over his shoulders and unsheathing a pair of sabers. He crossed them together, before slashing outward, the force of the blades scraping together releasing a shower of sparks as Advent leapt forward...

AdventDestiny, an original science fantasy novelization series, will begin in Spring of 2016.